Press Release: The Citizens Archive of Pakistan share exclusive images from their Oral History Project on Independence Day

Thursday, August 15, 2013
Huda Sheikh
1 Comments

The
Citizens Archive of Pakistan share exclusive images from their Oral History
Project on Independence Day

[Karachi:13thAugust2013]:The Citizens Archive of
Pakistan [CAP], a non-profit organization dedicated to cultural and historic
preservation, has released exclusive images from their Oral History Project
(OHP) as a celebration of Pakistan’s Independence Day. These photographs
feature historical figures and moments from Pakistan’s history such as broadcaster,
Mr. Mustafa Ali, announcing the creation of Pakistan on the radio, a
congregation of the Delhi Muslim Student Federation and the
state of refugees who left all their belongings in India when they migrated to Pakistan.

The
Oral History Project lies at the heart of CAP. The stories emerging from the
Project, the secrets behind old photographs and the personal experiences of our
nation’s rich and varied people feeds the material used in the Outreach Tours,
the Shanaakht Festival and several other exhibitions. The OHP concentrates on
people talking about significant events in their lives during the early days of
Pakistan, providing an alternative perspective to historical literature. The
OHP works with different communities in Pakistan under sub-projects such as the
Minority Project and Lollywood Through The Ages. The project also aims to
archive and preserve various records such as letters, newspapers, refugee
cards, official correspondences and passports.

Speaking
about Independence Day and the Oral History Project, Swaleha Alam Shahzada,
Executive Director CAP said, “The images
that we have released from our archives share a glimpse of our nation’s history
and the struggle for Pakistan. Insight into personalities from our past was
crucial in shaping the political, social and cultural landscape of the Pakistan
we know today. We hope that these images are of interest to all Pakistanis,
young and old, and help us better understand the scope and scale of this truly
momentous day. The Citizens Archive of Pakistanwishes all Pakistanis a very
happy Independence Day-Pakistan Zindabad!”

CAP
serves as the first ever private Pakistani initiative to collect, archive,
study, disseminate and exhibit all aspects of Pakistan's history after partition,
their vision is to become the foremost museum and heritage centre of Pakistani
history and culture, demonstrating the strength and spirit of Pakistan from the
perspective of a citizen.

Members of the Delhi Muslim Student Federation congregating in the city. The students of the subcontinent who gathered and had rallies to support the Quaid and the demand for a separate homeland

Miss Fatima Jinnah, surrounded by ladies of Karachi, during their weekly work party Saturday meeting where they cut, sew & knit clothes for refugees, at the Government House

When refugees came into Pakistan they had left all of their belongings in India and had migrated to Pakistan with patriotism and nationhood in their hearts

Broadcaster, Mustafa Ali, announcing the creation of Pakistan on the radio at 12 am, August 14, 1947

About The Citizens Archive of Pakistan
(CAP)

The
Citizens Archive of Pakistan [CAP], a non-profit organization dedicated to
cultural and historic preservation, operating in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.
CAP seeks to educate the community, foster an awareness of our nation’s history
and instil pride in Pakistani Citizens about their heritage.CAP has focused its
attention on the tradition of oral storytelling in Pakistan, emphasizing the
importance of such narratives in a dialogue on national identity. The
organization has three main goals: to preserve and provide access to the archive,
to build and support educational programs, and to develop educational products
based on the testimonies collected.CAP is passionate about sharing Pakistan’s
stories with the educational Outreach Programs and the thousands of visitors
who attend their festivals, exhibitions striving to share knowledge in original
and exciting ways.

CAP’s School
Outreach Tours (SOT) program strives to inspire over 3600 children in Karachi
and Lahore’s most low-income neighbourhoods. The aim is to educate children
with carefully planned syllabi. CAP’s lesson plans exceed the perimeter of
basic knowledge and information. Lesson plans focus on History, Geography,
English Language, and more importantly on character building. Aside from
motivating each individual child, CAP emphasizes in encouraging communities
towards thinking logically and promoting equal gender parity through the use of
film, spoken word and photography. With visual rendering as the foremost tool,
they have designed various projects to incite the youth. Moving ahead

after the
heartening success of the SOT program, CAP is now reaching out to over 4500
first and second year college students in Lahore and Karachi. The College
Outreach Tours utilizes material from CAP’s archive to develop workshops. These
workshops are based on civic sense, tolerance, democracy, constitutional
rights, and invoke critical thinking as well as an understanding of the
country's history and heritage. The program is bilingual and includes
research-based interactive activities designed to inculcate a broader vision of
Pakistan.

Exchange for
Change is another exciting initiative by CAP that aims at improving
relationships between school students in different countries. This program
seeks to help students across borders realize that dialogue is not just
possible but sustainable too. Through cross-culture communication students can
have a clearer understanding of their history, culture and lifestyles. CAP
believes that such interaction will in turn lead to a positive change and
eliminate cultural misconceptions and inter-generational conflict. A sustained
exchange of letters, postcards, pictures, artwork and videos encourages
children to form their own opinions. Currently this project is running in India
and USA.

At its very
core CAP strives to build bridges and close gaps while trying to enhance the
very perception of Pakistan by use of film, the spoken word and photography. Their vision is to develop CAP as the foremost museum and
heritage center of Pakistani history, photography, culture, literature and
historical documentation demonstrating the strength and spirit of Pakistan from
the perspective of a citizen. Each exhibit tells important stories about the
country and provides an engaging and thought-provoking window into the nation's
past, present and future.

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